(no subject)
Christmas in Zion National Park. I included a couple links to Dan’s photos from the trip.
Saturday 12/22. Dan was free and Joe was traveling elsewhere for the holiday, so we made a threesome to Zion, Dan’s first visit. Saturday was a travel day. We all met at the Las Vegas McCarran airport, rented a car and headed east as far as Saint George. Shopping for propane, matches, and dehydrated hot lunch material - to be used out on the trails allegedly - occupied almost an hour’s search in K Mart. Later we stopped at a highway convenience store that stocked every single item we had laborously scrounged at K Mart, no lines, and that sold single books of matches versus K Mart’s smallest quantity of three hundred. Lesson learned. In the center of town the Saint George Mormon Temple was imposing, all lit up in contrast against the dark night sky, and with its fenced temple grounds festooned in Christmas lights. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8302045833/in/photostream/ The Temple is the oldest in Utah and an object of great veneration and pride. Saint George was Brigham Young’s winter home and to this day is called “Dixie” from Young’s strategy to grow cotton there. The nippy Saint George winter air didn’t exactly feel southern, but if you looked close, on the Temple grounds there were palm trees. Saint George is a pretty town that boomed like most of the mountain West in the 1990s and 2000s. My assessment is the growth was handled well. The town feels calm and rather sophisticated for being essentially in the middle of vast mountain scenery, somewhere between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. If you pass through on I-15 and don’t want a fast food meal just off the freeway, take exit 8, head west and cruise Saint George Boulevard for a decent collection of Mexican, Thai, Fusion, Indian, Sandwich, Pancakes 24x7 etc. We got a good Mexican meal and fretted about the 5 day weather and strategized how to best use the time in Zion and altered plans a bit, to omit the Kolob Canyon area to the north and go directly to the main park.
Sunday 12/23 gave us a colorful sunrise, sometimes a harbinger of unsettled weather to come. We got to the park early and headed up the east road to the tunnel and the Upper East portion. The road climbs through 4 sharp hairpins then tunnels about a mile through a sheer sandstone wall following the curvature of the wall and ascending. It is a prodigy of 1920s road building, with staff on each end of the tunnel to try to control access for situations when big trucks, RVs, motorcycle gangs, etc all simultaneously want to crash somewhere in the tunnels recesses. Out top you are above the main canyon of Zion Park in beautiful and sparsely vegitated sandstone formations. We took some short hikes offtrail, simply by parking at turnouts and bushwhacking wherever things looked promising (as in, no dropoffs). However at this altitude clear ice was present in patches, and even the slightest incline traversing ice on the sandstone “slickrock” was treacherous. So we opted for the official trail to the Canyon Overlook, a classic Zion viewpoint. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8336371085/in/photostream/ Joyce, Dan, and several people at the trail’s end claimed they had passed David Brooks (the New York Times columnist and PBS “conservative” pundit) and his family. Coincidentally Brooks was the subject of a smackdown in Rolling Stone the previous week. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/is-david-brooks-teaching-humility-at-yale-the-most-pretentious-moment-in-history-20121219 Probably for the best I didn’t encounter him. I might have been an embarrassment to us both, accosting him with gratuitous sympathy, if he had stopped and asked which way was the ranger station. Then we descended to the main canyon and slowly cruised the road leading to Zion Narrows. Hordes of tourists like us, about half Asian. Must be a good time to visit from abroad, fewer natives out and about? Our delicious rehydrated hot soup luncheon was held mid afternoon on the banks of the Virgin River - rather a nice idea actually -- al fresco by the Waters of Zion etc etc. No harps to hang in willow trees, but it seemed like a meaningful and sublime destination just the same. We wandered the length of the river road slowly in both directions and stopped everywhere to gape and ponder. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8305405647/in/photostream/ Peaks are 1000 to 2500 feet above you and they crowd in from all points of the compass. Driving the road in a private car contrasts to the required shuttle that runs in peak season, which skips some interesting stops. Especially if you visit in the regular season, take the shuttle stop at Big Bend then carefully hike downriver about a quarter mile to the automobile turnout, which the shuttle omits. Spectacular views of The Great White Throne - epic massive sandstone monolith -- and the Big Bend are available from that point. At Zion Narrows, the trail was closed due to danger of falling ice. You are at the foot of 1000 foot vertical walls that seep water in summer and accumulate ice in winter. Ice would sometimes fall with an ominous crack and roar, but icefall hazard -- and a big chain across the trail and “Closed, Ice Danger” sign --- apparently did not deter several tourists from continuing on the level path into the narrows. A young ranger was there at the barrier admonishing people as they re-emerged. “Your safety is your responsibility” is a notice you see frequently in the park. Zion is a place to demonstrate awareness and show respect for falling stuff, either material from above, or for yourself potentially hurtling into some abyss.
Monday Christmas Eve 12/24. Rained overnight and low scattered clouds. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8323897181/in/photostream/ Temps above freezing, so the road remained wet but passable. We got a late start delayed by a massive breakfast buffet for Mr Dan at Zion Lodge, ten bucks. You could do worse at Wendys off I-15. Then we recapped the prior day drive in the lower canyon while snow flurries came and went through the morning. This time the peaks were draped in low drifting clouds and lit by random sunbreaks. The wispy clouds and shifting light were mysterious contrast with the stern vertical rock. Being close to upright stone is disorienting and can seem hallucinatory. Maybe these landscapes appealed to our Asian guests. The Zen oppositions of cloud and rock are frequent themes in Asian art. Temps started dropping in afternoon. We took an hour to warm up at the Human History Museum in the park which covers pre-history, Indian oral history, settlers, and finally the federal efforts to preserve and enhance the natural wonders of this canyon. To the Indians, Zion was “straight-up land.” To the Mormon pioneers it was “first toil, then the grave.” To the WPA-era rangers it was “hey let’s build really high scary trails along cliff ledges.” Recapped our delightful hot soup lunch at the Watchman campground, empty except for us and the ravens. Then we headed downriver and out of the park to Rockville and a low desert hike that took us back across the National Park boundary. This was Chinle Trail, around the base of a beautiful red-rock mesa and along the rim of a deep wash, up to a petrified forest. We were passed twice by younger hikers, but except for that handful of other people the place was quiet. A brisk snow flurry blew up out of the west in late afternoon and began to intensify. So we called it quits and returned prior to reaching the petrified forest, not wanting to wander out there in a mini blizzard. As we reached the trailhead the storm blew through and the sun set and the skies cleared. Night was cloudless with a full moon, scrubbed air and hundred mile visibility. Dan spent several hours after dinner photographing the snow-dusted peaks by moonlight. The sky was clear and dark, with a slight glow to the northeast that we figured was Salt Lake City, roughly 200 miles distant as the raven flies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8333826349/in/photostream/ (this photo looks in the general direction of Salt Lake City).
Tuesday Christmas 12/25. Cold and cloudless. Peaks all dusted in snow. Due to icy road conditions decided on trails in the lower canyon. From The Grotto, Kayenta Trail to Emerald Pools. A pretty hike that ascends gently along a ledge that follows the Virgin River downstream, then arcs into a wide canyon, ending at the foot of an astounding semicircular 2000 vertical foot sandstone wall. Young British tourists came and went, caroling, their voices ringing off the rock grotto. An exuberant crystal morning. Back at The Grotto we opted for another west-side hike, the West Rim Trail to Scouts Overlook and Angels Landing. This trail is a marvel of switchbacks. First up a 500 foot wall at the base of Angels Landing to the head of Refrigerator Canyon, a hanging slot canyon about 800 feet above the river level. Refrigerator Canyon is deep and narrow, runs nearly straight northwest, hence the lack of sun, and the cold. The trek ascends again at “Walter’s Wiggles” a series of steep switchbacks stacked one above the other, climbing out of the canyon to the ridge at Scouts Overlook. Due to its location in the depths of Refrigerator Canyon, the trail was solid ice at this point. We tried a couple of the switchbacks but gave up, due to inadequate foot gear. The ascent was difficult, a safe descent would have been infeasible. “Your safety is your responsibility.” There was no ranger keeping tourists off this trail -- probably if you make it this far, you have some minimal judgement. Though we did see young guys in tennis shoes gliding down the last stretches - just like snowboarding they said. And I went back down those two switchbacks on my butt gaining speed on that ice. No guts, no glory! Afternoon, a final excursion out of park to Grafton, the ghost town which was the movie set for scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The town goes back to the 1860s when whole families died of typhoid, per the gravestones. Pretty sunset, then evening clouds and more storms on the way.
Weds 12/26. Back to Saint George in a snowstorm, but the main force fell further north toward Salt Lake City. By mid morning we were in the clear. To the Dinosaur Museum in Saint George. This is a world-class dinosaur track site, discovered in the process of residential and commercial construction, and hedged all around by real estate development. If you have any interest in paleontology, this is a must see. I hope the Museum gains more recognition. It will take political organization and willpower to preserve more of what undoubtedly is a major scientific site. We wrapped our trip up on the return to Las Vegas at Valley of Fire state park. This is a large area of heavily eroded red-rock sandstone, filled with mazes, washes, canyons, towers, and petroglyphs. Some of the glyphs are real old -- pre-bow-and-arrow: the people hunted with a spear throwing thing, the atlatl. A downright surreal spooky place where every twist and turn gives you a new perspective and obliterates any sense of where you were. Loads of fun unless you get lost out there!
What a trip. Glad The Dan could accompany us. He threw in a couple bonus days with the Old Folks back in The Couv where we continued the overeating pattern, went to "Santaland Diaries" stage production in Portland, and hiked waterfall trails in the Gorge. A lovely vacation. Zion in winter is worth the ice and the travel and weather hazards. A lovely sublime epic place in any kind of weather, including blizzards.
Saturday 12/22. Dan was free and Joe was traveling elsewhere for the holiday, so we made a threesome to Zion, Dan’s first visit. Saturday was a travel day. We all met at the Las Vegas McCarran airport, rented a car and headed east as far as Saint George. Shopping for propane, matches, and dehydrated hot lunch material - to be used out on the trails allegedly - occupied almost an hour’s search in K Mart. Later we stopped at a highway convenience store that stocked every single item we had laborously scrounged at K Mart, no lines, and that sold single books of matches versus K Mart’s smallest quantity of three hundred. Lesson learned. In the center of town the Saint George Mormon Temple was imposing, all lit up in contrast against the dark night sky, and with its fenced temple grounds festooned in Christmas lights. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8302045833/in/photostream/ The Temple is the oldest in Utah and an object of great veneration and pride. Saint George was Brigham Young’s winter home and to this day is called “Dixie” from Young’s strategy to grow cotton there. The nippy Saint George winter air didn’t exactly feel southern, but if you looked close, on the Temple grounds there were palm trees. Saint George is a pretty town that boomed like most of the mountain West in the 1990s and 2000s. My assessment is the growth was handled well. The town feels calm and rather sophisticated for being essentially in the middle of vast mountain scenery, somewhere between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. If you pass through on I-15 and don’t want a fast food meal just off the freeway, take exit 8, head west and cruise Saint George Boulevard for a decent collection of Mexican, Thai, Fusion, Indian, Sandwich, Pancakes 24x7 etc. We got a good Mexican meal and fretted about the 5 day weather and strategized how to best use the time in Zion and altered plans a bit, to omit the Kolob Canyon area to the north and go directly to the main park.
Sunday 12/23 gave us a colorful sunrise, sometimes a harbinger of unsettled weather to come. We got to the park early and headed up the east road to the tunnel and the Upper East portion. The road climbs through 4 sharp hairpins then tunnels about a mile through a sheer sandstone wall following the curvature of the wall and ascending. It is a prodigy of 1920s road building, with staff on each end of the tunnel to try to control access for situations when big trucks, RVs, motorcycle gangs, etc all simultaneously want to crash somewhere in the tunnels recesses. Out top you are above the main canyon of Zion Park in beautiful and sparsely vegitated sandstone formations. We took some short hikes offtrail, simply by parking at turnouts and bushwhacking wherever things looked promising (as in, no dropoffs). However at this altitude clear ice was present in patches, and even the slightest incline traversing ice on the sandstone “slickrock” was treacherous. So we opted for the official trail to the Canyon Overlook, a classic Zion viewpoint. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8336371085/in/photostream/ Joyce, Dan, and several people at the trail’s end claimed they had passed David Brooks (the New York Times columnist and PBS “conservative” pundit) and his family. Coincidentally Brooks was the subject of a smackdown in Rolling Stone the previous week. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/is-david-brooks-teaching-humility-at-yale-the-most-pretentious-moment-in-history-20121219 Probably for the best I didn’t encounter him. I might have been an embarrassment to us both, accosting him with gratuitous sympathy, if he had stopped and asked which way was the ranger station. Then we descended to the main canyon and slowly cruised the road leading to Zion Narrows. Hordes of tourists like us, about half Asian. Must be a good time to visit from abroad, fewer natives out and about? Our delicious rehydrated hot soup luncheon was held mid afternoon on the banks of the Virgin River - rather a nice idea actually -- al fresco by the Waters of Zion etc etc. No harps to hang in willow trees, but it seemed like a meaningful and sublime destination just the same. We wandered the length of the river road slowly in both directions and stopped everywhere to gape and ponder. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8305405647/in/photostream/ Peaks are 1000 to 2500 feet above you and they crowd in from all points of the compass. Driving the road in a private car contrasts to the required shuttle that runs in peak season, which skips some interesting stops. Especially if you visit in the regular season, take the shuttle stop at Big Bend then carefully hike downriver about a quarter mile to the automobile turnout, which the shuttle omits. Spectacular views of The Great White Throne - epic massive sandstone monolith -- and the Big Bend are available from that point. At Zion Narrows, the trail was closed due to danger of falling ice. You are at the foot of 1000 foot vertical walls that seep water in summer and accumulate ice in winter. Ice would sometimes fall with an ominous crack and roar, but icefall hazard -- and a big chain across the trail and “Closed, Ice Danger” sign --- apparently did not deter several tourists from continuing on the level path into the narrows. A young ranger was there at the barrier admonishing people as they re-emerged. “Your safety is your responsibility” is a notice you see frequently in the park. Zion is a place to demonstrate awareness and show respect for falling stuff, either material from above, or for yourself potentially hurtling into some abyss.
Monday Christmas Eve 12/24. Rained overnight and low scattered clouds. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8323897181/in/photostream/ Temps above freezing, so the road remained wet but passable. We got a late start delayed by a massive breakfast buffet for Mr Dan at Zion Lodge, ten bucks. You could do worse at Wendys off I-15. Then we recapped the prior day drive in the lower canyon while snow flurries came and went through the morning. This time the peaks were draped in low drifting clouds and lit by random sunbreaks. The wispy clouds and shifting light were mysterious contrast with the stern vertical rock. Being close to upright stone is disorienting and can seem hallucinatory. Maybe these landscapes appealed to our Asian guests. The Zen oppositions of cloud and rock are frequent themes in Asian art. Temps started dropping in afternoon. We took an hour to warm up at the Human History Museum in the park which covers pre-history, Indian oral history, settlers, and finally the federal efforts to preserve and enhance the natural wonders of this canyon. To the Indians, Zion was “straight-up land.” To the Mormon pioneers it was “first toil, then the grave.” To the WPA-era rangers it was “hey let’s build really high scary trails along cliff ledges.” Recapped our delightful hot soup lunch at the Watchman campground, empty except for us and the ravens. Then we headed downriver and out of the park to Rockville and a low desert hike that took us back across the National Park boundary. This was Chinle Trail, around the base of a beautiful red-rock mesa and along the rim of a deep wash, up to a petrified forest. We were passed twice by younger hikers, but except for that handful of other people the place was quiet. A brisk snow flurry blew up out of the west in late afternoon and began to intensify. So we called it quits and returned prior to reaching the petrified forest, not wanting to wander out there in a mini blizzard. As we reached the trailhead the storm blew through and the sun set and the skies cleared. Night was cloudless with a full moon, scrubbed air and hundred mile visibility. Dan spent several hours after dinner photographing the snow-dusted peaks by moonlight. The sky was clear and dark, with a slight glow to the northeast that we figured was Salt Lake City, roughly 200 miles distant as the raven flies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/parksdh/8333826349/in/photostream/ (this photo looks in the general direction of Salt Lake City).
Tuesday Christmas 12/25. Cold and cloudless. Peaks all dusted in snow. Due to icy road conditions decided on trails in the lower canyon. From The Grotto, Kayenta Trail to Emerald Pools. A pretty hike that ascends gently along a ledge that follows the Virgin River downstream, then arcs into a wide canyon, ending at the foot of an astounding semicircular 2000 vertical foot sandstone wall. Young British tourists came and went, caroling, their voices ringing off the rock grotto. An exuberant crystal morning. Back at The Grotto we opted for another west-side hike, the West Rim Trail to Scouts Overlook and Angels Landing. This trail is a marvel of switchbacks. First up a 500 foot wall at the base of Angels Landing to the head of Refrigerator Canyon, a hanging slot canyon about 800 feet above the river level. Refrigerator Canyon is deep and narrow, runs nearly straight northwest, hence the lack of sun, and the cold. The trek ascends again at “Walter’s Wiggles” a series of steep switchbacks stacked one above the other, climbing out of the canyon to the ridge at Scouts Overlook. Due to its location in the depths of Refrigerator Canyon, the trail was solid ice at this point. We tried a couple of the switchbacks but gave up, due to inadequate foot gear. The ascent was difficult, a safe descent would have been infeasible. “Your safety is your responsibility.” There was no ranger keeping tourists off this trail -- probably if you make it this far, you have some minimal judgement. Though we did see young guys in tennis shoes gliding down the last stretches - just like snowboarding they said. And I went back down those two switchbacks on my butt gaining speed on that ice. No guts, no glory! Afternoon, a final excursion out of park to Grafton, the ghost town which was the movie set for scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The town goes back to the 1860s when whole families died of typhoid, per the gravestones. Pretty sunset, then evening clouds and more storms on the way.
Weds 12/26. Back to Saint George in a snowstorm, but the main force fell further north toward Salt Lake City. By mid morning we were in the clear. To the Dinosaur Museum in Saint George. This is a world-class dinosaur track site, discovered in the process of residential and commercial construction, and hedged all around by real estate development. If you have any interest in paleontology, this is a must see. I hope the Museum gains more recognition. It will take political organization and willpower to preserve more of what undoubtedly is a major scientific site. We wrapped our trip up on the return to Las Vegas at Valley of Fire state park. This is a large area of heavily eroded red-rock sandstone, filled with mazes, washes, canyons, towers, and petroglyphs. Some of the glyphs are real old -- pre-bow-and-arrow: the people hunted with a spear throwing thing, the atlatl. A downright surreal spooky place where every twist and turn gives you a new perspective and obliterates any sense of where you were. Loads of fun unless you get lost out there!
What a trip. Glad The Dan could accompany us. He threw in a couple bonus days with the Old Folks back in The Couv where we continued the overeating pattern, went to "Santaland Diaries" stage production in Portland, and hiked waterfall trails in the Gorge. A lovely vacation. Zion in winter is worth the ice and the travel and weather hazards. A lovely sublime epic place in any kind of weather, including blizzards.